A brand new $85-million scanning system will be put into place to make checking driver’s licenses, passports and boarding passes in one step, thus shorten travelers’ waiting time.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the new technology called credential authentication technology (CAT) will allow agents to just scan people’s IDs and their personal and flight information will pop up on the screen. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said it will start testing the machine this fall.
As of now, travelers go up to checkpoints to hand over their IDs and boarding passes to a TSA agent, and he or she will make sure every information on both documents matches up. He or she will then mark on the boarding pass and hand them back.
With the new system, the whole process should only take 12 seconds per person, said Jim Albers, senior vice president of government operations for MorphoTrust which developed the machine. The system is expected to help scan through 300 people in an hour, more than double of the current TSA rate.
“TSA is very interested in improving the traveler experience,” Albers said.
The TSA showed its courage to improve its service and said the new system will provide its officers with “enhanced detection capabilities for identifying fraudulent and/or invalid passenger identification documents.”
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